Toshiba announces net profit for October-December

Toshiba Corp. says it returned to the black in the October-December quarter thanks to robust global demand for the flash memory chips used for digital cameras and smartphones.

Toshiba said Monday its net profit stood at 12.4 billion yen ($151 million), reversing a net loss of 10.6 billion yen in the same period in 2009.

The Japanese conglomerate — whose business encompasses everything from memory chips to household electronics to nuclear power plants — said booming global demand for flash memory chips helped the company swing into the black for the quarter.

Toshiba is one of the world's largest producers of NAND-flash memory, the chips used for storage on smartphones, portable music players, mobile phones and digital cameras.